Engineering – Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom – Full time

Space Forge is transforming return from space to deliver revolutionary experiments and products, for the benefit of humanity.

We are developing an end-to-end service for a satellite that can be launched into orbit, manufacture new materials, return independently, then be recovered, refurbished and relaunched. We have a core team of highly qualified engineers who are developing the key technologies simultaneously and we are in need of modelling engineers.

Ultimately we are looking for someone who can assist us with the system engineering we need for our service, both on ground and in orbit, to achieve our goal of transforming return from space for the benefit of humanity.

The primary roles for this job are:

  • Systems engineering of our space missions and payloads, including requirements definitions, researching technology, building software models and designing configurations.
  • Assisting with our testing campaign to verify our technologies.

Key areas of responsibility:

  • Writing and verifying requirements for our satellite and ground hardware
  • Building engineering models using python, as needed, in order to verify assumptions and derive key parameters
  • Research, trade-off and selection of technologies and components
  • Trade-off, design and verification of system configurations
  • Creation and review of design documentation
  • Creation and execution of test plans, assisting us with test days and during space missions.
  • Helping us to define our company level systems engineering approach.

A typical day:

  • Research and talking to suppliers of key components
  • Carrying out trade-offs of options to make optimal decisions
  • Helping plan tests and then helping to run them
  • Working with both ground and space hardware & software to build a complete mission
  • Creating engineering models to provide answers to difficult problems.
  • Working remotely, in the office and out in the field to verify results
  • Working with requirements and documentation to ensure our designs are consistent and validated.
  • Learning new skills and about new areas in space engineering.
  • Working closely with the engineering team and CTO to solve problems and refine baselines

Benefits

Salary expectation: £30,000 to £40,000 dependant upon experience

Beyond the salary, Space Forge has been set up to ensure that staff have everything they need to enjoy their work, as the executive team are strong believers in motivation and flexibility driving productivity. Therefore the current additional benefits are available to team members:

  • Remote working available, working from home when not needed to be in the office, high quality remote working equipment will be provided;
  • 30 days holiday (inclusive of 8 UK bank holidays per year);
  • Up to five volunteering days per year;
  • Opportunity to join employee share options plan;
  • Working with a passionate, friendly and highly motivated team;
  • Maternity / Paternity benefits beyond statutory;
  • Our inclusive culture, celebrating failure and success, fairness, respect and honesty;
  • Helping to shape the modelling development processes at a rapidly growing start-up;
  • Contributing to the company impact of helping to reduce CO2 emissions across the globe by deploying space made materials into more energy efficient hardware.

APPLY:  Space Forge Ltd – Current Openings (workable.com)

CLOSING DATE: This application will close on July 17th 2021

Skills and Experiences

  • Requirements

    The Space Forge team is deliberately made from individuals who are adaptable and willing to learn new skills quickly. Therefore we are looking for engineers who are willing and able to adapt to the requirements asked of them whilst maintaining a good level of technical quality. Additionally as a start-up, staff are sometimes asked to assist with duties beyond their nominal job description and we are looking for candidates who are happy to step up and try something new when needed.

    Technical skills:

    • Requirements writing and verification
    • Concurrent engineering design
    • Working knowledge of ECSS skills
    • Python 3 and its mathematical & engineering libraries
    • Basic knowledge of most key engineering sectors, including mechanical, electrical and software. Ideally deep experience with one of these.
    • Ideally experience with CubeSat or larger class missions
    • Experience with practical testing to verify assumptions

    Soft skills:

    • Able to communicate with teams working both in and out of the office;
    • Able to communicate professionally with customers, suppliers and external stakeholders;
    • Resilient and adaptable to technical and non-technical roadblocks, as many are expected

    Note that we don’t expect applicants to have all of these skills, but a mixture of some. We are looking for people who are willing to work hard, think logically, have high energy levels, respect others’ abilities and ultimately have an unending appetite to learn a large number of new skills quickly. Space Forge is committed to making super-powered teams of diverse individuals in all senses of the term, therefore women are strongly encouraged to apply and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.